Christian Horner’s X-rated reaction to Adrian Newey’s Red Bull announcement leaked | F1 | Sport

Eddie Jordan has revealed that Christian Horner called him a ‘f***ing silent assassin’ during the exit negotiations for his client and close friend, Adrian Newey. The former F1 team owner is the manager of the legendary engineer and helped secure him favourable terms following the announcement of his Red Bull departure.

After spending nearly two decades with the Milton Keynes-based outfit, Newey’s departure was confirmed ahead of the Miami Grand Prix. The 65-year-old had been linked with Ferrari throughout the early stages of 2024 and the behind-the-scenes turmoil at Red Bull proved enough to tip him over the edge.

While Newey’s departure has long been seen as a question of when, not if, it was surprising for many to discover that he would be free to join another team as early as the first quarter of 2025. Traditionally in F1, key members of technical teams must serve long periods of gardening leave before being freed up to join rivals.

Discussing his negotiations with Horner on his Formula For Success podcast, Jordan revealed: “Christian, do you know what he called me? Do you know what he called me when he found this? 

“First of all, his jaw was somewhere around near the end of his trousers. You know, it’s quite a big jaw in the first place, but he called me: ‘Ah, EJ, you’re a f***ing silent assassin’. So I don’t know what a silent assassin is. Maybe you could tell us, DC, what is that?”

Co-host David Coulthard then pointed out the surprise element of Jordan’s tactics. “Well, you’d rather be a silent assassin than somebody hearing you coming,” he explained. “No-one saw that coming at all. Nobody knew you were managing Adrian.”

The race for Newey’s signature is now hotting up with the most highly-regarded engineer in the paddock now on the market, but the 65-year-old has not yet decided whether he will jump straight into another F1 job, despite interest from Italian giants Ferrari and former team Williams. 

“I guess [I had been thinking about it] over the winter a little bit and as events have unfolded this year,” he said. “I’m in the very lucky position where I don’t need to work to live. I work because I enjoy it, and I just felt now was a good time to step back and take a bit of a break and take stock of life, go travelling a bit.

“I think with Mandy, my wife, and the dogs, we’ll probably go travelling, get a motorhome or something and go down through France and just enjoy life. Then maybe at some point, I don’t know when, I’ll say, ‘right, this is going to be the next adventure’. But right now there is no plan.”